Recycle Truck 2nd Birthday
Since the time our son was 10 months old, he has been obsessed with the garbage and recycle trucks that come through our neighborhood. Even before he could talk, he would hear the sound of the truck coming down the road and start to grunt. While my older girls liked seeing the garbage trucks too, it was nothing like this. By the time he was turning two it was pretty clear that my idea of a cute farm-themed party wasn’t in the cards because our little guy was a recycle truck fanatic. His favorite books at the time were I Stink and I’m Dirty about Stinky the Garbage Truck and Dirty the Backhoe. Now they even have an Amazon show called Stinky & Dirty that was a hit in our house. A quick Etsy search let me know that he was probably not all that unique in his obsession, as there were several fun printable sets!
It felt natural that shades of green would be great for this Recycle Truck party and I balanced them with black and white to make the colors pop. I found some great garbage truck designs (complex garbage truck cut and simple garbage truck cut). In the Silhouette design studio, I was able to modify one design with colors and added the number two and Callen’s name to make it a printable logo. I used this logo design for some printed out pieces on the tablescape, and for the cupcake toppers.
I found coordinating tissue paper decorations at the party store (some were recycled from past parties - the black & white were reused from the Minnie Mouse party) and then incorporated the tissue paper banners with the garbage truck cuts and print outs to make fun and personalized banners. I had green chevron and black and white polka dot fabric left over from previous events, so using them on the cake table added a lot of color to the display.
The cake and cupcakes were about as easy as it gets! I ordered plain cupcakes frosted in white, along with a cake without any topping from a local grocery store that makes yummy cakes. I bought Callen this new Tonka Truck, similar to the one in this set, but any one would work. I made 1.5 inch stickers with the logos I created on my Silhouette software, using the print-and-cut feature and sticker paper. Then I mounted the stickers on detailed rounds that I cut with my Silhouette Cameo.
I found the adorable little garbage cans (similar to these) at a local shop and thought they’d work perfectly. It did, however, lead me to the realization that we needed a bigger statement centerpiece. My husband ran down to the hardware store the night before to get a classic metal garbage can and I think it really makes the tablescape come together. Callen even thought it was funny to pop out of the garbage can a time or two like Oscar the Grouch. (Speaking of Oscar, if you are a fan, you need to see this Sesame Street party that Cindy created.)
I filled my candy jars of varying sizes and shapes (I really get a lot of use out of them for parties and holidays) with some different types of green candies (green apple licorice, sixlets, dipped pretzels) and created a recycle truck emblem for each so they added pops of interest to compliment the theme. At the last minute, I added the pop of orange with the cones and liked having a bit of contrast. I love that part of party planning - there really aren’t any rules as long as you are having fun and aiming to give your guests a good time.
This was largely a family party and the emphasis was to get everyone together. I did set up some fun games for the cousins and family friends to play. The printable set came with great game ideas. We had some cans for the kids to stack and knock over with balls, saved boxes of different sizes for the kids to build a tower with, and we gave the kids buckets and these fun grabbers to see how fast they could pick up wadded up newspaper. I added printable labels to bubble containers to give as favors and filled these adorable mini plastic garbage cans with jelly belly’s (with a cute tag) as favors that even adults could enjoy.
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Photo for the Recycle Truck birthday invitation
Recycle Truck Printables - This is an adorable set from Lauren Haddox Design that you can still purchase on Etsy. She even has adorable signs and invitations if you are looking to run with this fun theme. I love invitations, but I am finding that electronic invitations are becoming the norm. Evite is great and very easy to use, but if I am going for a specific look, I love to use Paperless Post. With this party specifically, I took some fun photos of Callen with his favorite garbage truck from Green Toys and used the image to make a electronic invitation.
I Stink! and I’m Dirty! books - These make great gifts if you know someone interested in trucks!
Useful Links:
Glass Apothecary Jars - similar to this larger set and this set of smaller jars which can both be found on Amazon.
Mini Garbage Cans - favors
Balloons: # 2 silver mylar, “party” balloon, polka dot balloons, and balloon sticks & cups. These balloon sticks are one of my favorite party secrets. I have mixed feeling on party balloons. I hate having to time a balloon run on party day and don’t really want to store a helium tank. In addition, we have really high ceilings throughout a large portion of our home and inevitably balloons end up way out of reach. These sticks and balloon cups have allowed me to prep balloons the night before and place them wherever a little pop of color is needed. I have used lots of different containers to set them in, often with clear florist marbles, but then kids are able to take them with them when they leave the party. I also find all sorts of uses for the sturdy plastic sticks in centerpieces and photo props.
